Meaning & Origins

Biblical name (meaning ‘man of God’ in Hebrew), borne by one of the archangels. Gabriel appeared to Daniel in the Old Testament (Daniel 8:16; 9:21), and in the New Testament to Zacharias (Luke 1:19; 26:27) and, most famously, to Mary to announce the impending birth of Christ (Luke 1:2). Used only infrequently in the 20th century, Gabriel has recently found favour as a given name in the English-speaking world, and is now sometimes bestowed on girls.

Polish, Spanish (Serafín), Portuguese, and Italian (Venetian): from a medieval personal name, Latin Seraphinus, from Hebrew serafim. In the Bible this term is applied to the class of six-winged creatures described in Isaiah 6, which came to be regarded in the Middle Ages as a class of angels; it is the plural form of Hebrew saraf, probably a derivative of saraf ‘to burn’. In part the Portuguese surname may represent a religious byname adopted in honor of the Capuchin monk St. Seraphinus (1540–1604, formally canonized in 1767).